Page, Catherine
Elliott III, Edward
2014-09-29T17:48:15Z
2014-09-29
http://hdl.handle.net/1794/18383
The wide variety of novel properties provided by various nanomaterials has striking implications for future applications. However, adoption of new materials is hindered by challenges in material definition, reproducibility, and characterization. While a specific application will define a set of desired properties, the development of a new material that addresses each need often proves challenging particularly when addressed in a linear fashion. With the development of libraries of nanomaterial building blocks and chemical reagents it would be possible to develop a modular approach to the discovery phase. This dissertation describes the development of two such approaches and explores how the challenges of materials definition and characterization may be addressed through the development of characterization sets that afford both corroborative and commentary approaches.
The appropriate characterization of any nanomaterial is challenging regardless of the properties being investigated. Considering characterization during the design of new materials greatly benefits the speed at which new materials may be explored. In addition to addressing characterization challenges, issues of reproducibility are considered early in the discovery phase in order to maximize the utility of the materials produced.
A modular method for the construction of new nanomaterials is illustrated in two different approaches. The design and synthesis of functional gold nanoparticles that were water-soluble and contained tailored reactive group densities for use as chemical reagents is provided. These nanoparticle reagents are intended to take advantage of the benefits of "click" chemistry, namely the use of readily prepared modular reagents with appropriate functionality compatible with a wide range of synthetic conditions. The direct synthesis method demonstrated here allows for the one-step functionalization of the gold core with both an ethylene glycol diluent ligand for solubility and stability along with functional groups to be used in subsequent azide-alkyne coupling reactions. In the final illustrative approach, functionalized gold nanoparticles were used as building blocks in the construction of a functional nanomaterial assembly. A dilute ozone treatment to remove part of the ligand shell allows for the benefits of ligand-protected nanoparticles while still allowing the properties to the core to be utilized.
This dissertation includes previously published and unpublished co-authored material.
en_US
University of Oregon
All Rights Reserved.
Nanomaterials
Nanoparticles
Nanoparticles as Chemical Reagents: Synthesis, Characterization and Post-synthetic Modification of Functionalized Monolayer Protected Gold Nanoparticle Building Blocks for the Construction of Advanced Nanomaterials
Electronic Thesis or Dissertation
2016-09-29
Ph.D.
doctoral
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
University of Oregon

Presto, Jenifer
Butler, Michael
Butler, Michael
2012-10-26T04:04:40Z
2012-10-26T04:04:40Z
2012
http://hdl.handle.net/1794/12432
This work examines the use of ambiguous or obfuscating narrative devices in 3
works by 20th century Russian authors: A Dead Man’s Memoir, by Mikhail Bulgakov, The
Eye by Vladimir Nabokov, and You and I, by Abram Tertz. Bulgakov relies on diabolical
imagery as well as characters that are by and large caricatures of how any decent person
would behave. Nabokov employs several modernist tropes including skillful use of
estrangement, as well as a bland tone towards occurrences that ordinary people would find
miraculous. Tertz plays on the notion of a double identity by psychically linking two polar
extremes until they are nearly unable to tell themselves apart from one another, causing one
to crack and kill himself, thus restoring his observer to a more enlightened state. Each
work uses the idea of narrative ambiguity and unreliability to demonstrate the
incommunicability of one’s artistic vision in its purest, platonic form.
en_US
University of Oregon
All Rights Reserved.
Bulgakov
Nabokov
Narrative
Reliability
Tertz
Narrative Reliability in Selected Works by Bulgakov, Nabokov, and Tertz
Electronic Thesis or Dissertation

Mason, Thomas E., 1971-
2011-03-29T21:50:18Z
2011-03-29T21:50:18Z
2010-12
http://hdl.handle.net/1794/11047
ix, 48 p. : maps. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number.
This thesis examines the roots of deforestation in Malawi and how it has been
problematized and turned into an accepted discourse of an impending crisis. I argue that
deforestation in Malawi has been prioritized in order to suit the needs of Malawi's
powerful elite and does not reflect the real and urgent problems of Malawi's small farmers.
Deforestation has been explained by narratives which suggest that the farmers are to blame
either because they have over-consumed fuelwood without replanting or have cut too many
trees for expanding agriculture. These narratives not only mask the ultimate cause of
deforestation, which is unequal access to land, but also deflect attention from more
immediate problems. In recent surveys, however, Malawi's farmers have been clear about
their priorities. Deforestation is a concern, but poverty and lack of food security are their
chief problems.
Committee in charge: Peter Walker, Chairperson; Dennis Galvan, Member
en_US
University of Oregon
University of Oregon theses, Environmental Studies Program, M.S., 2010;
Deforestation -- Malawi
Narratives and reality for tree planting in Southern Malawi
Thesis

Carpenter, Sarah Gerina
2012-03-01T00:49:27Z
2012-03-01T00:49:27Z
2011-09
http://hdl.handle.net/1794/11989
viii, 94 p.
My thesis examines Star Wars fan fiction about Anakin Skywalker posted on the popular blogging platform LiveJournal. I investigate the folkloric qualities of such posts and analyze the ways in which fans through narrative generate systems of meaning, engage in performative expressions of gender identity, resistance, and festival, and create transformative works within the present cultural milieu. My method has been to follow the posts of several Star Wars fans on LiveJournal who are active in posting fan fiction and who frequently respond to one another's posts, thereby creating a network of community interaction. I find that fans construct systems of meaning through complex interactions with a network of cultural sources, that each posting involves multiple layers of performance, and that these works frequently act as parody, critique, and commentary on not just the official materials but on the cultural climate that produced and has been influenced by them.
Committee in charge: Dr. Dianne Dugaw, Chair;
Dr. Lisa Gilman, Member;
Dr. Debra Merskin, Member
en_US
University of Oregon
University of Oregon theses, Folklore Program, M.A., 2011;
rights_reserved
American literature
Folklore
Social sciences
Language, literature and linguistics
Fan fiction
New media
Participatory culture
Vader, Darth (Fictitious character)
Narratives of a Fall: Star Wars Fan Fiction Writers Interpret Anakin Skywalker's Story
Star Wars Fan Fiction Writers Interpret Anakin Skywalker's Story
Thesis

Gilman, Lisa
Da Silva, Meyre
2013-10-03T23:38:19Z
2013-10-03T23:38:19Z
2013-10-03
http://hdl.handle.net/1794/13342
Colonial narratives and nationalist rhetoric in Africa have always associated female sexuality with male desire and consumption, aberrance, or perversion. While historical narratives suggested that native women's bodies should be tamed and possessed, African nationalist narratives usually equated female bodies with land, nature, and spirituality. In different ways, both colonialists and nationalists appropriated the female body and sexuality to convey ideologies concerning the conquest of distant lands or related to the dignity of the colonized people. This dissertation examines how African women writers' representation of female desire counternarrates colonialist and nationalist tales while disturbing gender conventions and defying social norms in African contexts. By using feminist theories, cultural studies, and postcolonial theory, I examine the ways that Ama Ata Aidoo's Changes: A Love Story, Paulina Chiziane's Niketche: Uma Historia de Poligamia, and Ken Bugul's Le Baobab Fou reveal female sexuality while simultaneously subverting discourses that often define female bodies as sexual objects or as spiritual entities-- as the Mother Africa, a trope widespread in the speeches of the Negritude movement. Through the analysis of these literary works, I present how these African women writers have used discursive strategies about female desire to demonstrate the consequences of the colonial encounter and post-independence policies on neo-colonial women's bodies and minds as well as to reveal the exclusion of women's voices from national affairs. These works not only confront history but also interrogate the role of literature and the work of art. Through their literary works, Bugul, Chiziane, and Aidoo bring to literature characteristics of African arts, reinventing the literary in order to forge a medium that is able to give sense to African women's experience.
en_US
University of Oregon
All Rights Reserved.
African
desire
gender
literature
representation
Women
Narratives of Desire: Gender and Sexuality in Bugul, Aidoo and Chiziane
Electronic Thesis or Dissertation
Ph.D.
doctoral
Department of Comparative Literature
University of Oregon

Elkan, Vanessa
2006-06-07T22:07:08Z
2006-06-07T22:07:08Z
2006-06-07T22:07:08Z
http://hdl.handle.net/1794/2804
61 p. A THESIS Presented to the Department of Sociology and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Arts, Spring 2006.
A print copy of this title is available through the UO Libraries under the call number: SCA Archiv Storage Elkan 2006
This thesis examines the highly controversial Uganda Project presented by the founder of the Zionist Movement, Theodor Herzl in 1903 at the Sixth Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland. It provides a historical and sociological explanation for the turmoil it created within the movement. This thesis explains how both external and internal factors influenced the reaction it received from the delegates of this social movement.
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application/msword
en_US
Zionism
Uganda project
Nationalism's Influence on the Creation of the Jewish State and the Political Divide within the Zionist Movement
Thesis

Walsh, Megan Kathleen, 1976-
2009-07-23T00:16:45Z
2009-07-23T00:16:45Z
2008-12
http://hdl.handle.net/1794/9488
xvii, 382 p. : ill. (some col.), maps. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number.
The debate concerning the role of natural versus anthropogenic burning in shaping the prehistoric vegetation patterns of the Willamette Valley of Oregon and Washington remains highly contentious. To address this, pollen and high-resolution charcoal records obtained from lake sediments were analyzed to reconstruct the Holocene fire and vegetation history, in order to assess the relative influence of climate variability and anthropogenic activity on those histories. Two sites provided information on the last 11,000 years. At one site at the northern margin of the Willamette Valley, shifts in fire activity and vegetation compared closely with millennial- and centennial-time scale variations in climate, and there was no evidence that anthropogenic burning affected the natural fire-climate linkages prior to Euro-American arrival. In contrast, the fire and vegetation history at a site in the central Willamette Valley showed relatively little vegetation change in response to both millennial- and centennial-scale climate variability, but fire activity varied widely in both frequency and severity. A comparison of this paleoecological reconstruction with archaeological evidence suggests that anthropogenic burning near the site may have influenced middle- to late-Holocene fire regimes.
The fire history of the last 1200 years was compared at five sites along a north-south transect through the Willamette Valley. Forested upland sites showed stronger fire-climate linkages and little human influence, whereas lowland sites located in former prairie and savanna showed temporal patterns in fire activity that suggest a significant human impact. A decline in fire activity at several sites in the last 600 years was attributed to the effects of a cooling climate as well as the decline of Native American populations. The impacts of Euro-American settlement on the records include dramatic shifts in vegetation assemblages and large fire events associated with land clearance. The results of this research contribute to our understanding of long-term vegetation dynamics and the role of fire, both natural- and human-ignited, in shaping ecosystems, as well as provide an historical context for evaluating recent shifts in plant communities in the Willamette Valley.
Advisers: Cathy Whitlock, Patrick J. Bartlein
en_US
University of Oregon
University of Oregon theses, Dept. of Geography, Ph. D., 2008;
Anthropogenic influences
Vegetation
Fire history
Willamette River Valley (Or.)
Charcoal
Physical geography
Native American studies
Environmental science
Plants -- Effect of human beings on -- Oregon -- Willamette River Valley
Plants -- Effect of human beings on -- Oregon, Western
Plants -- Effect of human beings on -- Washington (State), Western
Natural and Anthropogenic Influences on the Holocene Fire and Vegetation History of the Willamette Valley, Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington
Thesis

Drueding, Katie
2008-05-01T22:23:43Z
2008-05-01T22:23:43Z
2004-07
http://hdl.handle.net/1794/6064
vi, 95 p. A THESIS Presented to the Department of History and the Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Arts, July 2004.
A print copy of this title is available through the UO Libraries under the call number: SCA Archiv Storage Drueding 2004
This thesis examines the activities and beliefs of a group of scientists, mostly former Manhattan Project workers, who were politically active in the years immediately following WWII. Their organized activities formed what we call the Atomic Scientists' Movement. Through groups including the Federation of American Scientists, the Atomic Scientists of Chicago, and the Association of Los Alamos Scientists, and publications including the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, these men and women promoted policies of civilian control of atomic research and some form of international agreement governing the manufacture and use of atomic devices. In spite of frequent requests by their critics to constrain their official opinion to matters of established scientific fact, these movement scientists were either unable or unwilling to make such a distinction: in the years following the war, these scientists claimed expert authority over all things nuclear, whether that be the nuclear laboratory or atomic energy politics. This paper argues that this perspective on science and society is very similar to that explored from the 1960s forward by individuals doing work in the history & sociology of science, or "science studies" and works particularly with the work of Bruno Latour in order to name and explain the issues at work in the scientists' movement's redefinition of a scientist's proper place. The work of the movement scientists provided an entirely new way of thinking and popularized that way of thinking, fifteen to twenty years before those same ideas gained currency in the formal academic world. For those who recognized it, the atomic bomb provided the catalyst for the dissolution of conventional boundaries between science and society: from that point forward, for at least some part of the American public, politics clearly and obviously affected the pursuit of science, and scientists clearly and obviously had relevant perspectives on social issues.
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application/pdf
en_US
University of Oregon
University of Oregon theses, Dept. of History, Honors College, B.A., 2004
The natural business of a scientist : the atomic scientists' movement in America
Thesis

Pratt, Scott
Barnette, Kara
Barnette, Kara
2012-10-24T22:23:46Z
2012-10-24T22:23:46Z
2012
http://hdl.handle.net/1794/12323
Feminist epistemologists have often argued that our relationships with structures of power shape the content, expression, and social force of what we know. While feminist standpoint theorists have often maintained that experiences on the margins of social power can lead to better understandings of the roles of systems of oppression in society, more recent writings on epistemologies of ignorance examine the reverse, how experiences from positions of social power limit our understandings. In this project, I draw on the concept of epistemic privilege as it has been formulated by feminist standpoint theorists, criticisms of objectivity and fixed, transcendent truths, and analyses of the relationships between structures of power and concepts of knowing. By considering the works of Sandra Harding, Lorraine Code, and Patricia Hill Collins, among others, I argue that knowledge is situational and contingent and that some individuals possess privileged understandings due to their positions on the margins of power structures. However, I also argue that, in order for feminist epistemology to utilize the concept of epistemic privilege successfully, it must incorporate a concept of error into its considerations of constructions of knowledge.
Thus, throughout this dissertation, I examine how a concept of error could bolster efforts to subvert the dominant approaches to knowledge that have upheld male privilege and undermine the patriarchal power structures that rely on them. I propose a form of feminist inquiry that incorporates a method of error sensitivity, which will enable inquirers to recognize when institutions of power, individual limitations, and cultural myths are restricting knowing subjects' perspectives and leading them to commit errors. This concept of error, and the related approach to error-sensitive inquiry, relies upon a commitment to continuous and ever-expanding inquiry by a community, rather than an isolated individual. Thus, I derive much of my conceptual framework from the work of Josiah Royce and his concepts of the Beloved Community, loyalty to loyalty, and communities of interpretation.
en_US
University of Oregon
All Rights Reserved.
Beloved Community
epistemic privilege
error
feminist epistemology
interpretation
Royce
Josiah
Necessary Error: Josiah Royce, Communal Inquiry, and Feminist Epistemology
Electronic Thesis or Dissertation

Severson, Ronald
Clark, Danielle
2014-10-17T16:15:18Z
2014-10-17T16:15:18Z
2014-10-17
http://hdl.handle.net/1794/18527
This thesis proposes that cultural heritage preservation in the event of armed conflict is negotiated through four main frameworks: (1) a political framework of independent governments and UNESCO; (2) a legal framework of international conventions and agreements; (3) a civil framework including local communities and non-governmental organizations; and (4) an armed forces framework spanning military and militant groups. These four frameworks operate in conjunction with one another, at times in complementary or in contradictory ways. Given the intimate connection of immoveable cultural sites to the dynamics of cultural identity, it is assumed in this thesis that the intentional destruction of cultural heritage property is akin to the destruction of a group's cultural identity and to a greater extent a crucial component of ethnic cleansing in connection with social identity theory.
en_US
University of Oregon
All Rights Reserved.
armed conflict
Bamyian Buddha
cultural heritage
immovable
Middle East
preservation
Negotiating Stones: Immovable Cultural Heritage Preservation in the Event of Armed Conflict
Electronic Thesis or Dissertation
M.S.
masters
Conflict and Dispute Resolution Program
University of Oregon

Dartt-Newton, Deana Dawn, 1966-
2009-11-05T23:48:09Z
2009-11-05T23:48:09Z
2009-03
http://hdl.handle.net/1794/9926
xvi, 307 p. : ill., maps. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number.
In California, third and fourth grade social science curriculum standards mandate
an introduction to Native American life and the impacts of Spanish, Mexican, and
"American" colonization on the state's indigenous people. Teachers in the state use
museums to supplement this education. Natural history and anthropology museums offer
programs for teaching third graders about native pre-contact life, while Missions and
regional history museums are charged with telling the story of settlement for the state's
fourth graders. Clearly, this fact suggests the centrality of museums and Missions to
education in the state.
Since only one small tribe on the central coast has federal recognition, non-tribal
museums are the only public voice about Indian life. These sites however, rarely address hardships experienced by native people, contributions over the past 150 years, the
struggles for sovereignty in their homelands, and a variety of other issues faced by living
Indian people. Instead, these sites often portray essentialized homogenous notions of
Indiamless which inadvertently contribute to the invisibility of coastal Native peoples.
This dissertation analyzes visual museum representations in central coast museums and
Missions and the perspectives oflocal Native American community members about how
their lives and cultures are portrayed in those museums.
Using methods of critical discourse analysis, the dissertation seeks to locate
discontinuities between the stories museums tell versus the stories Indian people tell. It
addresses these ruptures through a detailed analysis of alternative narratives and then
offers suggestions to museum professionals, both in California and elsewhere, for
incorporating a stronger native voice in interpretive efforts.
Committee in charge:
Dr. Lynn Stephen, Co-chair;
Dr. Brian Klopotek, Co-chair;
Dr. Jon M. Erlandson;
Dr. Shari Huhndorf;
Roberta Reyes Cordero
en_US
University of Oregon
University of Oregon theses, Dept. of Anthropology, Ph.D., 2009;
Museums and Indians -- California
Indigenous peoples -- Study and teaching -- California
Negotiating the Master Narrative: Museums and the Indian/Californio Community of California's Central Coast
Museums and the Indian/Californio Community of California's Central Coast
Thesis

Wooten, Stephen
Capdeville, Emily
2013-07-11T19:58:52Z
2013-07-11T19:58:52Z
2013-07-11
http://hdl.handle.net/1794/12969
In the West African country of Mali, fourteen languages are recognized by the constitution as official. Of these, one is French, the language of the former colonial power, and the other thirteen are indigenous African languages. These languages have traditionally been used for oral communication and storytelling, but as the technology of writing has been introduced, the languages have been codified and used by some writers in creative writing.
This thesis explores the reasons writers in this plurilingual environment select the language in which they write. It provides a portrait of how writers perceive their role in the traditionally oral culture of Mali. Through an examination of connected institutions such as education and development, my work exposes the different forces that shape the choices made by these writers.
en_US
University of Oregon
All Rights Reserved.
African Literature
Bambara
Creative Writing
Language Choice
Mali
Malian Literature
The Negotiation of Writing in a Plurilingual Country: An Ethnography of the Malian Literary Scene
Electronic Thesis or Dissertation
M.A.
masters
Department of International Studies
University of Oregon

McNabb, Caroline Louise, 1983-
2011-08-22T21:32:48Z
2011-08-22T21:32:48Z
2011-06
http://hdl.handle.net/1794/11504
viii, 138 p.
This thesis examines casual storytelling among Mexican and Mexican American women in Oaxaca, Mexico and Eugene, Oregon. I focus on narratives involving powerful female protagonists and explore the ways in which storytelling can represent a negotiation of power in informants' lives. Taking a feminist and performance-centered approach, I analyze informants' perceptions of power and gender dynamics in their own lives and the lives of the iconic characters discussed. Analysis is based upon participant-observation, in-depth interviews, casual conversations, popular culture artifacts, and library and archival research. My research indicates that prose narratives are popular and discussed frequently among the communities I interacted with. Female icons function to shape virtuous feminine behavior and chastise immoral behaviors. Women form and articulate multiple identities and communicate about power and gender dynamics through discussion of these protagonists.
Committee in charge: Dr. Lisa Gilman, Chairperson;
Dr. Carol Silverman, Member;
Dr. Robert Haskett, Member
en_US
University of Oregon
University of Oregon theses, Folklore Program, M.A., 2011;
Folklore
Cultural anthropology
Latin American history
Gender
Identity
Legends
Power
Religion
Storytelling
Women storytellers
Negotiations of Power in Mexican and Mexican American Women's Narratives
Thesis

Bishop, Sue
2008-07-21T18:32:23Z
2008-07-21T18:32:23Z
1958
http://hdl.handle.net/1794/6862
41 p. A print copy of this title is available through the UO Libraries under the call number: SCA Archiv Bishop 1958
980216 bytes
application/pdf
en_US
University of Oregon
University of Oregon theses, School of Journalism, Honors College, Baccalaureate, 1958
Negro housing in Portland
Thesis

Pham, Min Van, 1980-
2008-11-13T00:45:19Z
2008-11-13T00:45:19Z
2008-06
http://hdl.handle.net/1794/7782
vii, 103 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number.
East Asia regionalism emerged in the context of the end of the Cold War, the
break-up of the Soviet Union and the outgrowth of regionalism in many parts of the
world such as the unprecedented expansion of the European Union and the development of the North American Free Trade Agreement. It has been nearly two decades since its
inception and almost every aspect of East Asian regionalism has been explored in depth
with the exception of the application of theoretical explanations to East Asia regionalism.
This paper is an attempt to apply international relations theories of neo-realism and neoliberalism
to East Asia regionalism. The paper has found that both neo-realism and neoliberalism
have found evidence in East Asia to support their assumptions about
regionalism but neither has given fully appropriate explanations to East Asia regionalism.
The case study of Vietnam' s regional cooperation is also supportive of that conclusion. In
addition, the case of Vietnam indicates that concrete conditions of each country have
played an important role in its incentives and participation into regionalism. The paper
invites explanations for East Asia regionalism from other theories in international
relations.
Advisers: Diane M. Dunlap, Philip D. Young, Kathie Carpenter
en_US
University of Oregon
University of Oregon theses, Interdisciplinary Studies Program: Individualized Program, M.A., 2008;
Neo-realism, Neo-liberalism and East Asia Regionalism: The Case of Vietnam
Thesis

Sen, Biswarup
Livingstone, Randall
Livingstone, Randall
2012-12-07T23:11:33Z
2012-12-07T23:11:33Z
2012
http://hdl.handle.net/1794/12517
The purpose of this study was to explore the codependencies of the social and technical structures that yield Wikipedia the website and Wikipedia the community. In doing so, the research investigated the implications of such a sociotechnical system for the maintenance of the project and the emergence of collective intelligence. Using a theoretical framework informed by digital media studies, science and technology studies, and the political economy of communication, this study examined the material and ideological conditions in which Wikipedia has developed. The study's guiding research questions addressed the nature of Wikipedia's sociotechnical system and potential for collective intelligence, as well as the historical development of the project's technical infrastructure and the state of its technology-assisted collaboration.
A mainly qualitative multi-method research approach was employed, including document analysis, semi-structured interviewing, and social network analysis. A plethora of documents were carefully selected and examined to explore how and why decisions were made, policies implemented, and technologies adopted on the site. Additionally, 45 interviews were conducted with members of Wikipedia's technical community to understand the relationships between social and technical aspects of the project and the motivations of programmers who contribute automated tools. Finally, social network measures and visualizations were used to interrogate notions of collaboration and make more transparent the centrality of technology to the content creation process.
The study revealed that Wikipedia's technical development has been shaped by the dueling ideologies of the open-source software movement and postindustrial capitalism. Its sociotechnical system features the complex collaboration of human contributors, automated programs, social bureaucracy, and technical protocol, each of which conditions the existence and meaning of the others. In addition, the activity on Wikipedia fits established models of collective intelligence and suggests the emergence of a cyberculture, or culturally informed shared intelligence, unique to the digital media context. Software robots (bots) are central actors in this system and are explored in detail throughout this research.
en_US
University of Oregon
This work is licensed under the
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
collaboration
collective intelligence
digital media
sociotechnical
wiki
Wikipedia
Network of Knowledge: Wikipedia as a Sociotechnical System of Intelligence
Electronic Thesis or Dissertation

Ester, Edward F.
2012-03-28T23:48:10Z
2012-03-28T23:48:10Z
2011-12
http://hdl.handle.net/1794/12106
xii, 78 p. : ill. (some col.)
Working memory (WM) enables the storage of information in a state that can be rapidly accessed and updated. This system is a core component of higher cognitive function - individual differences in WM ability are strongly predictive of general intelligence (IQ) and scholastic achievement (e.g., SAT scores), and WM ability is compromised in many psychiatric (e.g., schizophrenia) and neurological (e.g., Parkinson's) disorders. Thus, there is a strong motivation to understand the basic properties of this system. Recent studies suggest that WM ability is determined by two independent factors: the number of items an individual can store and the precision with which representations can be maintained. Significant progress has been made in developing neural measures that are sensitive to the number of items stored in WM. For example, electrophysiological and neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that activity in posterior parietal cortex is directly modulated by the number of items stored in WM and reaches a plateau at the same set size where individual memory capacity is exceeded. However, comparably little is known regarding the neural mechanisms that enable the storage of high-fidelity information in WM. This dissertation describes two experiments that evaluate so-called sensory-recruitment models of WM, where the storage of highfidelity information in WM is mediated by sustained activity in sensory cortices that encode memoranda. In Chapter II, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and multivoxel pattern analysis were used to demonstrate that sustained patterns of activiation observed in striate cortex discriminate specific feature attribute(s) (e.g., orientation) that an observer is holding in WM. In Chapter III, I show that these patterns of activation can be observed in regions of visual cortex that are not retinotopically mapped to the spatial location of a remembered stimulus and suggest that this spatially global recruitment of visual cortex enhances memory precision by facilitating robust population coding of the stored information. Together, these results provide strong support for so-called sensory recruitment models of WM, where the storage of fine visual details is mediated by sustained activity in sensory cortices that encode information.
This dissertation includes previously published and co-authored material.
Committee in charge: Edward Awh, Chairperson and Advisor;
Edward Vogel, Member;
Nash Unsworth, Member;
Terry Takahashi, Outside Member
en_US
University of Oregon
University of Oregon theses, Dept. of Psychology, Ph. D., 2011;
rights_reserved
Neurosciences
Cognitive psychology
Psychology
Biological sciences
Mnemonic precision
Working memory
Sensory recruitment
Neural Mechanisms of Mnemonic Precision
Thesis

Tarzaban, Sophia
2014-10-23T17:53:28Z
2014-10-23T17:53:28Z
2014-06
http://hdl.handle.net/1794/18552
70 pages. A thesis presented to the Department of Biology and Human Physiology, and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Science, Spring 2014.
This paper is focused on the neurocognitive development of perinatally HIV-infected infants, children, and adolescents. According to the World Health Organization WHO), in 2011 there were 3.3 million children living with HIV and, since then, that
number has increased. Children living with an HIV diagnosis show higher rates of neurologic, cognitive, and scholastic impairments compared with the average schoolage child. These effects on cognitive development may result from viral effects on the nervous system as well as side-effects of treatment with antiretroviral (ARV) drugs. To provide these children with better outcomes, new or alternative methods of treatment for HIV that do not cause adverse cognitive effects should be developed. In addition, caregiver training programs and community activities have been proven to increase cognitive performance in HIV+ children. Introducing a new, safer method of treatment for HIV+ children and providing caregiver/community support can help give HIV+ children the best possible future.
en_US
University of Oregon
University of Oregon theses, Dept. of Biology and Human Physiology, Honors College, B.S., 2014;
All Rights Reserved.
Human Physiology
Biology
HIV Positive Child Cognition
Perinatally
Human-Immunodeficiency Virus
Cognitive Development
Antiretrovirals (ARVs)
Treatment Therapy
Caregiver
The Neurocognitive Development of Perinatally HIV Invected Infants, Children, and Adolescents.
Thesis / Dissertation

Phillips, Patrick
Gaertner, Bryn
Gaertner, Bryn
2012-10-26T04:00:01Z
2014-12-29T21:12:31Z
2012
http://hdl.handle.net/1794/12385
In a heterogeneous environment where temperature influences fitness, individuals must navigate to a thermal optimum to maximize reproductive output and minimize physiological stress. However, the optimal temperature varies among individuals due to genetic and environmental contributions. The neural and genetic basis to such natural variation in behavior has remained elusive in most cases, as the high-throughput genomic, neurodevelopmental, and behavioral techniques were not developed. Using the nematode
en_US
University of Oregon
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Behavior
Evolutionary Biology
Neurodevelopment
Quantitative Genetics
The Neurodevelopmental and Genetic Basis to Natural Variation in Thermal Preference Behavior in Caenorhabditis elegans
Electronic Thesis or Dissertation